This is what I was wondering? I agree with you
@misput that the propensity to sin and actually committing sin are two different things. And maybe this is where clarification of what exactly does "original sin" mean?
@chevyontheriver - correct me if I'm wrong; but I'm under the impression that the RCC concept of "original sin" is that sin itself is imputed from Adam onto posterity; so thus all are guilty of sin even if having not committed it yet?
Yet if what the RCC teaches is as "original sin" is a fallen nature passed to Adam's offspring. I would agree with that.
That too though is different than "the potential to sin"; because the "potential to sin" assumes the person has not fallen until they personally commit sin. That I don't find to be accurate according to Scripture. What I think everyone has inherited from Adam is the corrupted nature; which inevitably only leads to sin. And that's what I think the Scripture means by: "In Adam all die".
I could say it's simple, but it's not.
All have sinned in Adam, not that all have committed any sins of their own yet, for example a newborn, but that all have fallen under the curse of Adam. It is a fallen nature that we all get now. Something we all need redemption from, something that without the workings of grace would damn us. It's part of our bent human nature.
It also gives us the inclination to sin. And so we sin.
Potential to sin is a bit different. Adam had the potential to sin from his creation. It is a corollary of having a free will, the free will not to do the good, to do something in privation of the good. The angels had that same option, and the freedom to choose to dissent from good.
Some dissented in actuality, and then fell. Adam and Eve did the same, exercising their potential to sin and thus sinning. From then on they had not just the potential to sin, but the inclination. We all have the potential to sin and the inclination, and then we go ahead and do it. The technical term for that inclination is 'concupiscence'. It is not a sin in and of itself, but as if it were a force of gravity pulling us into sin. It is part of our bent human nature.
Our human nature, in it's pure form as created by God, is one of freedom. It is the human nature that Jesus had. Catholics will argue that Mary also had it but by the singular work of Jesus. We know God can create humans who have not fallen, as he did successfully create Adam and Eve as unfallen people. Mary's sinlessness is considered 'fitting' but not required for Jesus to avoid original sin. She was saved but as one saved from falling rather than picked up after already having fallen.
His avoidance of original sin is because he is God made man, who can have no sin of any sort in him, no sin nature, no concupiscence, no desire to sin. He could be tempted to good things, as were all of the things Satan tempted him with. But he could freely reject such things and concentrate on the greatest good, doing the will of the Father. Jesus never fell, never shared in the sin of Adam, never had an inclination to sin. He was immune to that by being a divine person so taking on a human nature he took on the original human nature.
The rest of us have inherited a bent human nature, which means we need a savior from at least our first breath, which leads us inevitably to committing our own sins.
The link to the Catholic Encyclopedia article is here:
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Original Sin
The article would explain things more thoroughly than I can. Ping me back if you want to address this more.